Insights · Question
What is a tabletop exercise?
A tabletop exercise is a facilitated discussion, usually two to three hours, in which the people who would actually respond to an incident walk through a realistic scenario, receive new information at intervals, make the decisions they would make and discover where the plan, the roles and the communication break down. It touches no live systems. It reveals that nobody knows who can authorize a shutdown, that the insurer’s notification clause was never read, or that a key person has no deputy. It is run at least annually and after changes to leadership or the plan, and its report is evidence that regulators, insurers and customers ask for.
In more detail
The reasoning.
A tabletop teaches when the scenario is specific to the organization, the injects force real decisions, the executives who would decide are in the room, the facilitator does not rescue them and the scribe records every hesitation as a finding. One that confirms everyone did well has taught nothing.
It is distinct from a live drill, which executes real procedures on real systems and measures timing. Tabletops test decisions; drills test execution; a program needs both, in that order.
See tabletop exercises, the tabletop exercise design kit, designing one that teaches and tabletop exercise versus live drill.
By David Selakovic · Published 2026-10-16 · Revised 2026-10-16 · Reviewed every 90 days